Last week news broke that hacker George Hotz had settled his legal dispute with Sony. Hotz had been a very, very naughty boy and had found ways around Sony’s PS3 security and put details on the Internet. Sony were very angry indeed and decided to teach Hotz a lesson by getting a whole bunch of cruel lawyers to spank him.

However, Sony had a bit of a change of heart recently and were kind enough to give Hotz a chance to free himself from all the bothersome legal trouble. All he had to do was cross his heart and hope to die that he would never poke around in Sony hardware ever again, as long as he shall live.

Hotz accepted and the pair lived happily ever after.

People who donated to Hotz’s legal fund, who had hoped that Sony would get a right old battering in a bloody legal battle, were less happy. They wanted to know where their money had gone. But they need not have worried.

“As promised, all left over legal defense money, plus a little to bump it to a nice number, has been sent to the EFF,” wrote Hotz this weekend. “Thank you all so much for your support, without it, things could have been much worse.”

“This money goes to the EFF in hopes that America can one day again be a shining example of freedom, free of the DMCA and ACTA, and that private interest will never trump the ideas laid out in the constitution of privacy, ownership, and free speech.”